Standing Form - Zhan Zhuang

Hi everyone!

I promised I would post some photos showing the first two sets of stand form. Before I do that, I thought I would detail a little of the history and lineage of our current Stand Form sets.

The martial art of Yi Quan (I Chuan, 意拳) was founded by Wang Xiangzhai (王薌齋), a Xing Yi Chuan master. He decided in the 1920's that martial arts (Xing Yi Chuan in particular) in China were becoming too concerned with forms (see Wushu (sport) for a possible long-term vindication to his opinion). So he created his own martial art and called it Yi Quan.

From Wikipedia:
"Yiquan is essentially formless, containing no fixed sets of fighting movements or techniques. Instead, focus is put on developing ones natural movement and fighting abilities through a system of training methods and concepts, working to improve the perception of one's body, its movement, and of force."

One part of Yi Quan is Zhan Zhuang (站樁) or as we call them Standing Form.

Wang Shu Jin (or Wang Shu Chin) trained with Wang Xiangzhai at some point, and took some of his Zhan Zhuang exercises and incorporated them into his own system, modifying them to suit his purposes. The Standing Form sets we study come from Wang Shu Jin, although my current teacher has studied with present day Yi Quan practioners. His experience has again modified the exercises we practice.

My next post will be describing why we practice our stand form. If there are any questions or comments, feel free to post them!

William Mioch

Special Bulletin 2

Another Special Bulletin. This time I wanted to give you all a heads up. On Friday I came down with Bell's Palsy, a temporary paralysis of one side of the face.

It's caused by an inflammation of the facial nerve, which passes through a small hole behind the ear. When it's inflammed, it gets "pinched" by the hole and stops working. Most people recover by three weeks. Here is a link to more information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell's_Palsy

Just so you don't think I'm trying out my Rocky impersonation when you see me next!

Our new baby!

We interrupt your regular posts to bring you this special bulletin:

Sabrina Fae Mioch was born Saturday 10th November at 8:45 am, weighing 7 pounds 11 ounces. Mother and baby are home and doing great.

24 Form Detailed Move List

Creswick - Tai Chi/Kung Fu Class, Thursday 8pm, 1/11/07
As requested, here is a more detailed breakdown of the move/postures to help you practice at home.

1. Opening Movement (Preparation)
1. Raise Arms
2. Lower Arms
3. Raise Arms
4. Lower Arms and Twist to Left
5. Circle Arms Clockwise
6. Finish with Holding the Ball, Right Hand High
   
2. Parting the Horses Mane
1. From Holding the Ball, Right Hand High
2. Part the Horses Mane, Left Hand Leading
3. Holding the Ball, Left Hand High
4. Part the Horses Mane, Right Hand Leading
5. Holding the Ball, Right Hand High
6. Part the Horses Mane, Left Hand Leading
   
3. White Crane Spreads (or Flashes) its Wings
1. Bring the back foot up and shift weight backwards (Empty Step)
2. Raise Right Hand, Lower Left Hand
3. Twist Hips from Right to Left
4. Raise Left Hand, Lower Right Hand
5. Twist Hips from Left to Right
   
4. Brush Knee-Push Step
1. Raise Right Hand, Lower Left Hand
2. Step Left, Brush Left, Push Right
3. Raise Left Hand, Lower Right Hand
4. Step Right, Brush Right, Push Left
5. Raise Right Hand, Lower Left Hand
6. Step Left, Brush Left, Push Right
5. Play the Pipa(/Lute/Guitar/Zitar)
1. Bring the back foot up and shift weight backwards (Empty Step)
2. As weight shifts backwards, hands brush hips and circles out and up
3. Hands finish in a guard position, left hand forward
   
6. Repulse Monkey
1. Together
1. Back Hand (Right) goes back and up
2. Front Foot (Left) goes back
2. Together
1. Weight transfers onto back foot
2. Back hand pushes past ear and into guard position
3. Repeat 3 more times
   

And that's all I had time for this week! I'll finish off the list in the coming weeks.

Have a great day,
Bill

The Heel Kick

Creswick - Tai Chi/Kung Fu Class, Tuesday 8pm, 23/10/07

Tai Chi

The Heel Kick we went through in class contains a lot of small pieces. Let's review them here.

Lift Heavens
From the Single Whip at the end of Cloud Hands, the right hand goes back and the back leg straightens, making your hands appear to lift up.

High Pat the Horse
Your right hand comes forward past your ear and brushes forward along your arm.

Draw the Bow
Your right hand circles down and past the inside of your left elbow, then forward and out, towards the direction we will kick.

Heel Kick (Right)
The hands come down, cross over and then circle up. The right hand and foot go out together.

Box Tigers Ears
The foot comes straight down, the hands brush the hips and come forward to Box Tigers Ears. The thumbs are downward your fists are a heads-width apart.

Heel Kick (Left)
We then executed a left heel kick in the opposite diagonal direction.

We'll review the move on Thursday and see hwo we go from there.

Until then, keep practicing!

Cloud Hands and Xing Yi Chuan

Creswick - Tai Chi/Kung Fu Class, Thursday 8pm, 18/10/07

Tai Chi
Tonight we introduced Cloud Hands. Cloud Hands (or Waving Hands Like Clouds) is one of those "all together moves."

Cloud Hands requires that your hands, arms, hips, legs (your whole body) all move together. Contrast this with some other moves: White Crane focuses on hip movement, Parting the Horse's Mane focuses on Ward Off, etc. You need to be thinking about a lot of principles at the same time to get the hang of Cloud Hands. But once you do, you'll forget all about them and just do it!

Kung Fu - Hsing I Chuan
In our Kung Fu component, we did some more Hsing I Chuan (or Xing Yi Quan, depending on romanisation). Hsing I means form/intention, and Chuan in this context refers to boxing/style. Hsing I Chuan is a much more aggressive internal style than Tai Chi Chuan.

Animal Forms
We reviewed Tiger and Tai. We introduced Snake in this class. Snake is about using unexpected angles for attack and defence.

Five Elements
We reviewed Drilling and introduced Splitting. Splitting has more components than the forms we have done so far. It might take a while to remember them all!

Grasping Swallow's Tail and Single Whip

Welcome to the first post on our class oriented blog! Here I'll be posting relevant supporting material after each class.

Creswick - Tai Chi/Kung Fu Class, Tuesday 4:30pm, 16/10/07
At tonight's class we introduced two new moves for our 24 Form. The sequence for the 24 Form is listed below. Where there is a common alternative name, I have included that in brackets.

1. Opening Movement (Preparation)
2. Parting the Horses Mane
3. White Crane Spreads (or Flashes) its Wings
4. Brush Knee-Push Step
5. Play the Pipa(/Lute/Guitar/Zitar)
6. Repulse Monkey
7. Grasping the Swallow's(or Bird's) Tail Left
   
8. Grasping the Swallow's(or Bird's) Tail Right
9. Single Whip
10. Cloud Hands (Wave Hands Like Clouds)
11. Single Whip
12. High Pat the Horse (Stroke the Horse's Back)
13. Heel Kick Right
14. Box Tiger's Ears
15. Heel Kick Left
16. Snake Creeps Down Right
17. Golden Cock on One Leg Left
18. Snake Creeps Down Left
19. Golden Cock on One Leg Right
20. Jade(or Fair) Lady works the Shuttle
21. Needle at Sea Bottom
22. Fan through Back
23. Parry and Punch
24. Finish (Apparent Close-up)

Phew! As you can see, 24 is neither the number of moves, nor the number of unique postures.

Grasping Swallow's Tail
I said today that Grasping Swallow's Tail is one of the moves that is fundamental to Tai Chi Chuan. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, it demonstrates (in all styles that I have seen) at least 4 of the 8 energies. The sequence we did in class today was:

1. Ward Off - Upward and Outward
   
2. Roll/Pull Back - Backward/Absorbing
   
3. Press - Straight and Forceful
4. Split - Opposite Directions from an Original Point
5. Push - Straight and Driving

Secondly, every move in this sequence can be used "as is" in your push hands. There's nothing mystical or hidden about them. They are basic and effective moves.

Single Whip
Single Whip is one of the more well-known Tai Chi postures. It is common to most forms, although it varies slightly. I demonstrated today how it can be used against a wrist grab.

The basic concept of Single Whip is using one arm to create an opening (the "hook" hand) and using the other arm to attack.

Push Hands Sensitivity
Lastly, we did a series of push hands sensitivity exercises. In Tai Chi Chuan, it is said that the Forms are for conditioning and Push Hands are for self defence.

We practiced feeling two things, a forceful push and a deliberate withdrawal. Once you have contact with someone, they can either attack or disengage (and then attack or run). Feeling for that push coming or that hand pulling away is these two situations at their most basic.

The only way to develop touch-sensitivity is to practice your push hands, so we'll try and do a little bit each class.